If you’re wondering how long the iPhone 4S battery lasts; the answer is: not very long. In fact, iPhone 4S battery life issues have customers complaining…a lot.

We all know that any Apple release; the whole drama, from inception through production and delivery is, well pretty dramatic. No Apple product would get its proper welcome into the world without at least one issue people love to gripe about:

Personally, I’ve buckled down and am still waiting for the iPhone 5. Although I don’t own an iPhone 4S myself, my roommate upgraded from his old BlackBerry to the 4S, after he finally had enough of his cracked screen, (which was definitely my fault; a story for another time ). Because of this, I got some hands on time with his iPhone 4S and although I do have a lot of respect for the sturdy OtterBox case he got for it, I’m being careful this time around.

That being said, I became aware of the 4S’ battery life (or lack thereof), a couple of days ago and when I saw the NY Times post on the same issue, I decided to weigh in on the topic here on SheBytes.

Sure, if we look at the facts, Apple promised a battery life which would support:

Standby time: Up to 200 hours, (unlikely…)

Internet use: Up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi, (a reach but not impossible)

Audio playback: Up to 40 hours, (that’s awesome!)

But I think that the most likely cause of the recent consumer battery complaints is simple; like with anything new there’s a learning curve.

Allow me to explain.

When prospective iPhone clientele saw the device’s commercials, anticipation built up…for months. They got extremely high expectations of what the device would be capable of once they got their hands on one. Once they actually got the device in hand, things weren’t as magical as they imagined.

As people play with their 4S, they’ll further adjust and customize the settings so that they suit their individual needs and boost battery life as much as possible. So while I’m not claiming that the iPhone 4S battery is flawless, it’s pretty unsurprising that a device with so much functionality can drain a battery so quickly.

Apple announced and acknowledged the issues with the iPhone 4S battery life, as reported here on CNN. Plans are underway for a software update that should help resolve this issue with a timetable of “a few weeks”.